by Unknown
“Yes, but how do we go about getting to him, I mean we are probably now on all police scanners.”
“Yeah, but what does this have to do with me?
He can help us in finding the doctor of course.
“We can’t go to his office…” Val was thinking out loud. “We will most definitely run into problems there and there might be a shootout…innocent people might die.”
“Can you find out where he lives?” Mikka asked obviously more interested already.
“Sure…all that information is in the Capital.”
“Okay, why don’t you do that, and I can then plan out how we can get to his home…” Mikka “But, you understand, I do not want to be exposed.”
“Okay, you just get us there, and you can stay out of it.”
“Maybe we can call someone else for help.” Timor offered some kind of solution seeing how Val’s and Mikka’s faces were all twisted in worries.
“Yeah, who?” Val wanted to know. “You know what the commissioner would do…”
“No, no, I meant someone here…
“The communication engineer, the one that worked on the space station..” Timor was persistent.
“Yes, try contacting him…maybe he can connect us to live camera feeds from the space.”
Timor did just that, and within half an hour, they had live feeds on anywhere within twenty mile zone of space station.
“Can you just pull views of all those ten locations, the one that you considered important?
“Start at the top of the list. Put up views of his favorite restaurants, friends he visits…”
Satellite feeds of targeted spots soon filled the air in front of them.
“You guys have to see this…”Timor interrupted their engagement. “Since his house exploded, I decided to check the news feeds looking if they have been reporting anything…”
“Smart…” Val admitted.
“See. The doctor is all over the news…his house made a front news today. Luckily, they have no video feed about us.”
Mikka felt a huge wave of relief overcome her.
“And it seems that his face has been all over the news. Now police is looking into him. He has been reported missing since they cannot find his tracker, but then in that explosion who could expect the tracker to survive.”
But before Mikka even had a time to pull out all the news streams, Val told her suddenly to stop.
His finger was pointing to the second video showing the city’s marine where the doctor was often found visiting.
“What is that?”
“It looks like four police sedans and two jetters…”
“That is a raid! They are on to him. He must be there…Look!” Val said at the time that two officers were holding the doctor under each arm, escorting him through the door.
“How did they find him? Why were they even looking for him? He was supposed to be- ”
“Who cares, maybe he didn’t pay his parking fines. But they certainly have him.”
“And look, there is the Captain. We can even get him at the same time. How far is that from here?” Val got excited.
“If I jet alone, only a few minutes,” Mikka answered.
“Forget about it…We go together. You, Timor, can wait for us here.”
“I agree…One broken back a day is enough I should suffer.” Timor seemed please.
“Can you log into their communications to see what they are saying?” Asked Mikka
“Sure, but that might take me a minute…”
“We don’t have time for that…We better hurry. Once they take him to the station, who knows if he will live for very long.” Val said.
“If they get him to the station, I will kill him before you get to talk to him. There is no way I will let them process him and put him in the system. No way am I risking more on this assignment.”
“So, we better hurry then…except I do not think they will be taking him to no police station.” The dark sedan with a police markings that was transporting the doctor seemed to be heading the way out of the city and not to the central police station.
“Where the hell are they taking him?“
“Keep posting us of their location Timor, and connect their communication to my pod if you can”
“Okay,” he said happily he didn’t have to go on another road trip. “Don’t we make a good time? He asked Mikka who already had her rifle over her shoulder, departing.
“Yeah, sure we do…I keep saving your ass, of course you would like to be on my team.”
The next second she had already left.
“She didn’t have to say that, she didn’t have to be so mean…” he complained to Val who was already out of the door.
Chapter 13 The Doctor
Val really didn’t want any of the officers killed, so he had to find the way to get the doctor without any shots.
“Listen, you do what you do, and I'll do what I do.” Mikka told him as he confronted her about shooting anybody.
So that’s how they did it.
Val pulled up next to the police car transporting the doctor.
“ECI, pull over, NOW!” He demanded waving his badge, and surprisingly the sedan stopped.
To Val’s delight, out of its back seat came the captain.
“What can I do for you ECI Val?” He asked
“I was looking to talk to that man.”
“Well, we can take him to the station and you can talk to him there, in the full comfort of our station.”
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you as well,” Val said noting that two police officers from the front of the car came out as well, with their guns awfully close to their hands, “And I don’t think that can wait for any longer.”
“What do you mean? Here? What do you want to talk about anyway?
“Well for one, why are your men trying to kill me?”
The bullet that took the captain off the ground came behind him, on the other side of Mikka.
Two police officers behind Val went for their weapons firing everywhere. Val felt the bullet rip his flash in the arm before he could use Timor's stunner to knocked them both out.
Using the car as a cover, he opened the sedan’s door and pulled the doctor out.
“I’ll go after the assassin…” Mikka voice came from the air. “You take the doctor to my home.”
A half an hour later, Val saw her again, and from the expression on her face he could tell that she lost the killer.
“That was a clean hit. That guy was as good as me. Probably could kill us all if that was asked.“
No questions were asked about what happened, and Mikka was glad of that. She didn’t want to talk, not even think about, how she chased after the assassin to the shopping mall full of visitors, tracking him down to the restroom, and thought him out of his gun, knocking him under the sink. Then she took her own gun out and put it right on his forehead. But before putting a bullet in his head, she suddenly became unsure.
He is so young, maybe it is his first job…seems so nervous. She thought. He won’t last long either way. The young man’s eyes begged for mercy, and she felt a strange sensation.
Thoughts stirred in her head. Why waste this guy? He has done nothing to you. It is not you anymore. He poses no threat.
“Dude, you are in the wrong profession.” Was all she said to him as she holstered her gun and left him to deal with his piss-wetted pants.
She realized whatever it was she felt back there, she didn’t like it. Especially afterwards, when she had a good chance to think about it. It almost made her feel like she was getting soft, weak.
“Maybe that was the job that was offered to you, the one that you turned away.“
“Obviously someone else didn’t.”
“Almost makes me sad I turned it down. I could have wasted that sucker right there and walk away with some serious credits.”
“Aren’t you retired now?”
“You better shut up, and go back to that tube of
mine. You are already making a mess of my new apartment. I promise I will start charging for that tube from now on, charge you per minute of use, so you better keep quiet.”
…
“With the captain XIXo dead, we are running out of people that can help us solve this mystery,” Timor said afterwards.
Val thought that he had very little bit of time, an hour or two, before Mikka decided to finish off the doctor. That should be enough to get the info he needed.
He put the doctor on a chair and set right in front of him.
“Doctor, you are not an easy man to find. The first question I have to ask you, how did police got to you when we couldn’t?”
“I don’t know…Since, my house blew up, since I didn’t show up for my work, I think they reported me missing. I didn't know but they flashed my photo across video streams… Must have been someone that recognized me as I got to the marina. Must be that they've called in police.”
“And what do you have to say about blowing half of your house up? With us in it, I mean?”
“I apologize, but you certainly can understand why I did what I did. I knew that my life was in danger. Didn't mean to hurt any of you.”
Val slammed him with his feast so hard his whole body flew few steps away together with the chair he was in. As he picked him up, few of his teeth were left on the floor covered with blood drops.
-“There you go, I won't have to kill him myself after all.”
“Well, we'll get to that...I mean that alone, have a humanoid double, that is highly illegal. I can take your life right now just for that. And you want to blow people up? What the darkhell is wrong with you?”
It took a long moment before Val could compose himself. “I am not the one that wants to enforce every rule in the book, but still...If your life was in danger, then why not run to authority? Why do all of that?”
“I think you know the answer for that as well. You saw our local authority. They represent the interests of few...and unfortunately I am not one of them, would not want to be one of them…”
“So, what exactly is going on here?”
“I do not know if I can really help you with that.”
“I certainly hope you can. Because, you see there is a price on your head. And, I can tell you right now that if you think that you escaped from your assassin, you better think again.”
Suddenly Doctor felt very uncertain and stared at Val without fully understanding what he was saying.
“No, not me Doctor. I am who I said I was, Emperor’s Chief Investigator, with all the credentials, with all the rights and obligations.”
Only after Doctor heard those words did he take a good look at two other people in the room, and when his eyes settled on the cold hard stare of Mikka did he understand how short his life might be.
“But, but you...” he said suddenly completely lost to communications.
“So, you see…I have no time to waste, doctor. If you do not talk, you are of no use to me.”
“I want you to tell me everything...” Val continued after that had sunk in. “ I want you to tell me everything I know and everything I do not know. No games.”
Doctor shook his head.
“There is very little I know. Senator Sulivaro, he was coming to meet with me, to bring me some samples of the material…of the material…”
“What material?”
“Let’s just say, of material that is not readily available in the Empire.”
“What kind of material, doctor?”
“You would not understand.”
“Try me.”
“No, I rather not.”
“You better tell me what material are we talking about.” Val got very close to doctor’s face. “I have no time to lose.”
“It is sort of medicine, let's just put it that way.”
“So, it's a drug, okay. So tell me something else, who knew about him coming to meet with you?”
“Nobody of course…the meeting, you understand, was supposed to be completely secretive. “
“Why would he risk doing something like this, bringing you drugs? Doesn't make any sense.”
“You would have to ask him that. He insisted. I think he waited a whole year to come here and used his regular government work trip as a cover.”
“Did you destroy that transporter?”
“Of course not! I had nothing to do with it. I wanted to meet with the senator, for him to bring me that material. Why would I kill him?”
“well you certainly like to play with bombs.”
“They are only intended as defensive devices of the last resort. I had nothing to do with the transporter!”
“Okay, let's go to something else that interests me. So why is it that suddenly, from publishing at least one research every 100 days, you suddenly haven't done anything for the last 1000?”
“Maybe I am just tired of writing and publishing.”
“But you are certainly not tired of building bombs and creating humanoids.”
“There is nothing I can say to that. I regret if any of that might have caused you any harm. I really am.”
“You tried to kill us.”
“No, not you. I am being honest here. I meant you no harm. Those that went after me, yes, but you, that was an accident.”
“You seem to be having a lot of accidents.”
“That is why I build that humanoid, to have accidents in my place.”
“That is still illegal...at best, can cost you all your possessions and spending the rest of your life on the planet Pluk. So you better tell me, what am I missing to see here?”
“I really do not know what that is. I do not think I can help you.”
“If you had to guess who destroyed the transporter, who would you guess did it?” Val asked again.
“Your people…”
-So, you finished with him now?” Mikka asked nervously, “Time is running out. I think I have been very patient so far. You see that he doesn’t want to tell you anything. Besides, you perfectly know that he has committed so many crimes that you should kill him yourself. Judge him, then execute his ass. Or judge him, and I’ll execute his ass. Any way you like it, but either way, let’s just get over with it.”
“I can't let you kill him.”
“No…We had a deal.”
“Yes, exactly. I said until I finished with him. And I am not finished with him yet. We need him still.”
“You mean you need him...Well, I need him too. Dead. Before anyone finds out. You know that?! “
“You do not understand...” Mikka started to explain after a moment of utter silence during which she composed herself. “This was to be my last job. That was supposed to be it... I'm out…I want out…I really need to be out…I…”
Mikka caught herself, could not believe what she was saying. Why would she ever open up to a stranger, what is that any of his business about her future plans. She suddenly felt like a little girl again, and didn't like that at all.
But in that second, in that instant while she tried to get her thoughts straightened, she didn't realize just how close Val's body was next to hers.
He stroke.
His hand went to her neck, pinching her with a needle that sprayed neural toxin into Mikka body, instantly paralyzing her.
She collapsed down.
“What’s going on?” Timor asked taken by surprise, “Is she dead?”
“No, not yet.”
“What's going to happen to her? Is she going to die?”
“She is not one of our worries. And we have plenty of those. We have problems with local police, the Capital EI unit, and we are not any closer to getting answers we need to save our jobs. I can’t let her kill the doctor. We still need him.”
Val looked at the disappointment, sadness Timor could not hide inside.
“It is sad that she threw her life away like that, becoming an assassin...Just like her father and mother.”
What Val didn't care to spend time explaining to
Timor is that the neural toxin that Val used was very rare one. Val knew what trained assassin was, and that she probably was trained to be resistant to many poisons. That is why he could not risk, and put a double dosage. Watching her lose control over her muscles, lose her consciousness, he knew she didn't have the necessary resistance.
“I feel really bad about this, I even started to like her…she saved our lives…”
“If you think that doing personal favors for me will influence me so I can look away and not do my job, you really don't know me. I swore an oath, and so did you.”
“If she ever wakes up, she’ll hate us forever.”
-She is a tough cookies, she probably will, that’s why I’m going to do this…he said as he put electronic whip that cuffed her hands and legs together. She will probably never wake up, but still, if this makes you feel better…
“Do we really have to do this? I mean, she is not even part of our mission, we can just let her go.”
“She, if paid enough, will put a bullet in you.” That quieted Timor down a bit.
“So, what will happen to her now?”
“I, Val of CFI sentence you to 60 years at the Planet Pluk for traveling through space without a proper id, for possessing illegal substances and I confiscate your whole belongings.” Val was saying into his badge and then he injected a small pin into her back.
“We better clear from here, the police will be here in a few minutes, and we just do not know if any of captain’s friends are still out there
“Chief, if she survives it all, she'll want to go after you, will probably hate you and hunt you down forever.
“Nobody survives 10 years on Pluk, let alone 60. But if she does, yes, you are right, she probably will hate me forever. And like you said before, forever is a very long time.”
Chapter 14 The Truth
Val didn’t dare to go back to his safe house. Instead, he chose to go outside the city to one of the motels that covered the road between the city and the workers quarters. The room where they took a doctor was being rented by the hour. It was decades old, and that is exactly how it smelled.